770 
THE .TROPICAL AaKlCDLTlTRIST. [MAt 1. 1902. 
The author pives in succession the history and 
tlie staiistics of all the great plantii-f,' industiiea 
of tlie ishuiil ! he also draws up a siininiary of 
all the eilorts at iniroducing new [ircduets, at- 
tempted whether by private persons or public 
institutions. Each paragraph closes with a rapid 
plance at rival countries and tlieir produce or out- 
put. One also finds numerous bibliographic indi- 
cations and suggestions. 
In most cases, the documents quoted or referred 
to, whet her in the text or in a note, appeared first 
in the Tropical Agriculturist acd Mr. Ferguson 
never fails to emphasise the fact with legitimate 
I)ride. Some of ths paragraphs, which thus set forth 
t'.ie ])laiiting industries wl.ich have made the 
prosperity of Ceylon, are truly mo^t remarkable ; 
nothing of the kind could possibly be better don^. 
We shall, pei'haps, some day be able to give a 
more complete idea of the way in which Mr. 
Ferguson publishes in his journal a translati(m of 
articles concerning various cultivations of parti- 
cular interest for the foiwigner. 
One must also take note of the commercial 
studies and World's Statistics of the did'erent great 
agricultural products ; this chapter forms a sort 
of complement to the preceding one ; the list of 
the authorities consulted for the review, quoted on 
page 184j, gives some idea of the enormous labour 
involved in collecting all these figures. 
The volume contains also, like its predecessor, a 
list of Ceylon patents (pages 369-372). This will 
be invaluable tor iiiventois of all countries who 
have to do with machinery for tea or other tropical 
products as well as for anyone interested in tools 
used on plantations. 
Between the 'I'arifF of Batta or Allowances to 
Witnesses and Jurors and the legislation relating 
to coolies there is an excellent Report on Ceylon 
W^oods and their adaptability for Tea Chests. 
Also, some hundreds of pages further on, comes a 
General List of Ceylon Woods, inserted just 
before a very useful Utile study on the Coconut 
Oil Trade from 1860 to 1901. 
THE PLANTING INDUSTRY AND 
THE PEOPLE OP INDIA. 
. [The following apjiears in the London Times 
of March 29th.-ED. T.A.\ 
(To the Editor of tlie Times.) 
Sir, — Will yon allow me to mention one 
fact, overlooked by the recent tea-planting 
deputation to jSir M. Hicks-Beach, that is 
calculated to give the Government and 
people of the United Kingdom a greater in- 
terest in the planting industry of India and 
Ceylon than anything hitherto advanced ? 
It is that every acre opened British capital- 
ists in tea, coffee cacao, &c., me;rns the 
support, directly or indirectly, of not fewer 
than five native* men, women, and children. 
Tea alone affords, therefore, a livelihood to 
hctwcen 4^ and .5 millions of the people in 
India and Ceylon (almost entirely India, 
because tlx; latter dr;iwn its estate coolies 
from Southeiai India). Tl:is should afford 
the best justification for the Viceroy ;uiil the 
Governor (;f Ceylon deprecating an increase 
in the tea duty, which would inevitably 
result in a great numy acres being thrown 
out of cultivation. The Secratary of State 
for India and his advisers should specially 
note this fact.— Truly yours, 
J. FERGUSON, of the Ceijlon Observer 
and Tropical Agriculturist, 
Colombo, March 6. 
INDIARUBBER IN NATAL. 
IT.3 CULTIVATION AND PRODUCTION. 
ANTHONY WILICINSON IN THE " NATAL 
AGKICUI-TURAL JOURNAL." 
Some years ago I trieil the experiment of planti)ig 
an acre of " Maniliot Glaziovii, or ide CVara rubber 
tree of South Ameria. Mr. Medley Woo curator 
ot the Durban Botanic Garden-s was kind enough 
to furnish me with roots ami cuttings of Cea"a 
from trees he had growing in the Gardens, 
and wished me to try un ex))triment on a laraer 
scale. I planted an acre of Manihot with coffee 
plants between. The rubber trees grew well and 
seeded abundantly, and at four years old, when 
the trees got to a good size, 4 to 5 inches in dia- 
meter, on scoring tliebaik^to extract the rubber, 
although the ru^'ber was of 'good quality and very 
elastic, the collecting or getting of it was slow and 
costly. Accordingly, I came to the conclusion 
that the experiment would not pay, unless the 
trees could be tap[)ed and the juice collected in 
quantity, as is done in South America, and fur- 
ther that Natal was not .'^ufiBciently tropical to 
make good flow of sap. Coming to these conclusions 
I cut the trees down, hut still the trees come up 
again froni tiie seeds every year, and grow luxu- 
riantly 5 or 6 feet high in the first year, showing 
the climate to be suitable for their growth. Arnong 
my coffee 1 have a self-sown Ceara only three 
years old, and over 20 feet high. The re-l sandy 
soil of the coast such as that of Baiea, Durban, 
would be the most suitable. The seeds left to 
mature do not come up for a yeai' or two. By 
some, filing is recommended, but this is a tedious 
process ; tapping them with a small hammer until 
tliey crack sei ves as well, and is much quicKer. 
The plan adopted to collect the rubber, with the 
Ceara rubber trees, is to sliip off the thin outer 
hark, which is like brown paper, and expose the 
green bark. This inner bark is then scored across 
with a knife at an angle, and the milky juice or 
sap then exudes and dries on in an nour or two, 
and can be peeled off and wound up in balls, but 
the process is so slow with the coolie women em- 
ployed at 6d per day that I found it would cost 
about 5s per p und for the lab ur of collecting, 
and the product would be woith only about 2s per 
pound. Now it strikes nie very forcibly that, if a 
cheaper way of extracting the rubber were adopted, 
it would pay well. The rubber is there, of good 
quality, but the question is how to get it out. 
My idea is this : to jdant the trees in rows, 12 
or more feet apart, like large hedges, and at two 
or three years o d, when large enough, in the spring 
or earl^ sumnic)', when the .'sap is rising, to slash 
off the !-mall branches and leaves, an(' crush them 
in a small steam sugar-mill, and let the jnice i un 
into a tank of water. The residue of branches 
and leaves wiuld th.en he put into a hydi-auhc 
press, with steam outside, ami pres-sed as long as 
the sa]) would flow. The rubber juice «oulil coag- 
ulate in the water, and lubber raked out 
and i-queezod by hand into balls and dried. By 
this method the trees would be pollared and 
dwarfed, and could be cut and trimmed once or 
